I believe we can construct a new view of special providence
which holds both that God acts in the world objectively, and yet
that such action is not by intervening in or suspending the laws
of nature. I call this idea "non-interventionist objective
special divine action". Much of the current discussion in
the field of theology and science regarding divine action now
turns on this possibility. The approach which I will take
depends on recent developments in both philosophy and science.
I cannot explore the philosophical arguments here, since that
would take us considerably afield in this short article.I will, however, suggest how quantum mechanics contributes to
the approach by changing our views of causality in nature. There
are even some very remarkable implications for the creation
/ evolution debate which I will hint at here.

In the mid 1980s, I began to explore the implications of quantum
physics, and particularly Bells theorem, for the doctrines
of creation and providence. "From a theological perspective
we can add to the view that God creates the universe through chance
and law the claim that the order God is creating is in some sense
the order of quantum chaos. Rather than saying the God creates
order in place of (i.e., out of) chaos, from a quantum perspective
we could say that one way God creates order is through creating
the properties of chaos." This is continuous creation
indeed!

Quantum Physics and Non-Interventionist Objective Special
Providence

It is precisely this classical world in which God can act (without
intervening) in specific events, if we recognize that the classical
world is not an irreducible given but a result of the quantum
world. Thus the laws which describe the classical world are approximations
to the laws of quantum mechanics which describe how the classical
world, with its Newtonian regularity, arises directly out of the
quantum world, with its two kinds of statistics. If I adopt the
interpretation that these quantum statistics reflect ontological
indeterminism, then I may argue that God can act together with
nature to bring about all events at the quantum level, and that
these events give rise to the classical world.

What about a specific event in the classical world, one which
would fall under the category of objective non-interventionist
divine action? Here the response is that God acts in a particular
quantum event which has the potential for a macroscopic effect
within the ongoing macroscopic world. God acts in all quantum
events, but in some cases the effect `matter in the classical
world more than others. It turns out that there is a tremendously
important case in which this kind of understanding of non-interventionist
objective special providence is of critical importance, and it
is precisely where the critics of Christianity have been the most
vocal: neo-Darwinian evolution!

If the thesis is sustained, it can turn defeat into victory.
One of the key reasons for the rejection of Christianity by its
highly vocal critics is the charge that genetic variation is `blind
and thus an anethma to Gods purposes. My argument reinterprets
genetic variation as essential for a non-interventionist special
divine action in nature; God acts in evolution precisely because
of and within genetic variation. Moreover, it undermines the declared
reason for scientific creationism, since there is now no reason
to seek to replace "atheistic" science by what is in
reality religious pseudo-science. Instead we can give a robust
Christian interpretation of science, showing that it is not science
per se but its atheistic interpretation that is the real challenge
for Christians. This move would also enable us theologically
to extend the domain of Gods special providence beyond
human history to include the biosphere out of whose several billion
years of evolution we have emerged.

Challenges and Criticisms

A number of important challenges and criticisms arise immediately,
and must be met fairly. Here I can only cite them briefly:

The proposal is not intended an explanation of how God acts,
but a claim that if one believes God acts, quantum physics provides
a clue as to one location or domain where that action may have
an effect on the course of nature.

The proposal is not meant to limit scenarios of divine action
to bottom-up, but it also recognizes that in the early stages
of biological evolution, Gods action at the quantum level
may be the only mode possible (no "tops" available!).

For a complete defense of God acting purposefully in biology,
I would have to include a discussion of the problem of time and
eternity in a Trinitarian theology and its relation to the discussions
over temporality vis-a-vis special relativity.

Other key topics to consider include: the `double agency
problem (how does God act while preserving human free will?)
and theodicy (if God is good, why is there evil). The latter
issue is particularly acute given the enormity of pain and suffering
in evolution and the fact that so much disease has its basis
in the genes where, I am arguing, God does act. My response is
to relocate the discussion to a theology of redemption, in which
God suffers with the pain, disease, suffering and death of all
creatures through the power of the Cross of Christ, and that
by this process God is bringing about the New Creation promised
eschatologically in the New Testament. There ideas will require
significant development before they can be adequately assessed,
and they stand at the frontiers of the discussions about creation,
redemption and evolution.